Rising to the Occasion #2 - Using Tech to Help Stroke Victims Speak Again: Rishi Ambavanekar

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On this podcast, we strive to connect fascinating and successful people to the next generation. But today and throughout March, I’d like to change it up a bit and, in partnership with the Rise initiative, highlight some of the fascinating and successful people of my generation.

Throughout this month, I’ll be talking with three of the winners of the Rise Challenge from various years. For part two of this trilogy, I’ll be speaking with Rishabh "Rishi" Ambavanekar. For his Rise project, he built a low-cost, brain-computer interface (BCI) to help stroke victims communicate via translation of their inner dialogue.

Rise is a program that finds promising young people and provides "opportunity for life as they work to serve others." An initiative of Schmidt Futures and the Rhodes Trust, Rise is the anchor program of a $1 billion commitment from Eric and Wendy Schmidt to find and support global talent.

Topics:

• How overcoming OCD and his dad's TIA inspired Rishi to build an inner speech translator for stroke victims
• How to research and learn material outside your comfort zone
• How to deal with the "dauntingness" of new topics
• Utilizing “inner speech” to build brain-computer interface (BCI)
• The future of his project
• Advice to other young innovators tackling intimidating projects
• "What books and media have inspired you?"
• "What advice do you have for other young people?"

Rishi Ambavanekar is an inventor and scientist from the US. After overcoming OCD, he grew passionate about neuroscience. Upon learning about his father’s transient ischemic attack (TIA), he decided to focus on supporting stroke recovery. For his Rise project, he built a low-cost, brain-computer interface (BCI) to help stroke victims communicate via translation of their inner dialogue. Rishi is also proud to be named a 2022 ISEF finalist, FTC innovation award semifinalist, and an avid app developer. In the future, he plans to pursue a PH.D. and start a business.

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